As those skilled in the art know, electromagnetic waves are increasingly present in the environment, and the consequences of their interactions with living beings and materials present in this environment are often very poorly known and often difficult to access. There thus exists an important need to understand these interactions, and notably for quantification in order to better manage them.
To achieve this understanding, at least partially, it is possible to use analysis electromagnetic waves and to deduce, from variations in these electromagnetic waves induced from their interactions with the material analysed, values of dielectric or magnetic characteristics of said material such as for example the dielectric permittivity (ε) or the magnetic permeability (μ).
In order that this type of electromagnetic analysis is reliable, it is indispensable that the material analysed is not perturbed by parasites and notably by parasitic electromagnetic waves, different to those used to analyse it. In other words, the material analysed has to be located in a controlled environment, which, until now, has imposed the use of electromagnetic wave transport equipment and measurement equipment (sometimes called network analysers) which are quite bulky and thus generally fixedly installed in a room (generally a laboratory) and, what is more, not dedicated to a single type of analysis.
When the analysis instrumentation cannot be moved, it is difficult to transport it without risk of damage, and thus it is necessary to bring the material to analyse to the place where said instrumentation is installed, which is frequently impossible (in particular when the material is not transportable) or restrictive. In addition, due to the fact that it is not dedicated to a single type of analysis, it is often used and thus often unavailable.
When the analysis instrumentation can be moved, it is then greatly used due to its numerous applications and thus not available all the time.
Moreover, since current analysis instrumentation are often complex to use and the results of their analyses are often complex to interpret or to understand, they can only be used by specialists.
In addition, current analysis instrumentation are often costly and thus relatively rare.
The document US 2004/104736 A1 (Cohen et al.) discloses a device making it possible to measure the dielectric characteristics of liquid samples. The device comprises two connectors capable of guiding an electromagnetic wave, an electric module comprising a generator capable of generating the wave and processing means capable of analysing it. The spectral domains mentioned extend up to 500 MHz, or even up to several GHz. However, a capacitive system, by design, operates at a determined resonance frequency. In other words, capacitive techniques are monochromatic. The device described here is a Q-meter which thus can only, at best, operate at determined discrete frequencies and not over a continuous frequency range. It may thus make it possible to measure the dielectric permittivity, but not the magnetic permeability.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,092 (Ludlow et al.) also only addresses liquid samples. The capacitive technique used does not work at high frequencies since it implements a L-C circuit which, by its very principle, is a low frequency device, operating on the basis of determined time constants. The wave generator is a QCSW (Quartz Crystal Square Wave) generator, which operates at fixed and low value frequency, thus uniquely suitable for the analysis of liquid samples.